News

Our dinner plans are complete! Big Fish Seafood Bistro , 700 Town Center Drive (at the corner of Valley View Drive) in Dearborn received the enthusiastic vote of our phantom diners, Ruth Stauder LeBay and Kathy Walker. (Okay, they didn’t really get to dine, but they wanted to.) The restaurant is located less than a half-mile down the road from the Hyatt Regency and can also be found at: http://www.landrysrestaurants.com/. Click the Big Fish logo in the upper right corner. The web site is not that impressive but the reviews are.

We will be allowed to choose from a selection of five (including one vegetarian) yummy entrees. The total price is $35 and it includes the three course dinner, tax, and gratuity, served in our own private space with a cash bar conveniently located close by.

The restaurant will also print a special “Marygrove Reunion” menu so everyone can make their choice that evening. We ask you to reserve your place at our reunion table by sending a check for $35 to Ruth at:

Ruth LeBay 2338 Chesapeake Ct Troy MI 48098

Questions:

Having the money ahead of time will allow us to make the deposit to reserve the room and special facilities to make our class dinner very special. After August 15th, the deposit is non-refundable. That is the last date the restaurant allows us to cancel our reservation. A sample menu is posted on the web site. Bon Appétit!

In recognition of significant reunion years, you are invited to make a special Homecoming gift to Marygrove. Many reunion classes choose to support a special project, make a gift in memory of deceased classmates or in honor of special professors, or simply a donation in recognition of the outstanding education Marygrove provided. Please contact your Homecoming class representative for more information.

Class of '61 Memory Book

Revised Date: Feb 17, 2011

Probably the most time consuming for you and for the committee will be the memory book submissions, so let's get that started. Each of us will get one page that includes a text of 250 to 300 words and a current photograph. Unfortunately, there's no secretarial staff! We ask that all submissions and photos for the memory book be sent electronically. We have set June 30th as the final deadline but you don't have to wait for June 30th and the nice weather to do this! But June 30th should give you sufficient time to think and to write, and the committee sufficient time to assemble all of the information in a final pleasing format.

Please do not allow the electronic submission to become an issue. If you are unable to submit the text electronically yourself please ask a family member or neighbor to do it for you. If there is some kind of emergency which makes this impossible for you, please contact me. Perhaps others reading this will offer to put your hand written text into electronic form. In that event, I will provide you with the name and mailing address. Please do not mail your hand written text to me.

Don't have a digital camera? Get a friend or relative to take the shot. Maybe they will also offer to email the picture for you. As I get older, I find it easier to ask people to do me a favor. You have been doing favors for others for well over 50 years. Just call one in! It's your turn.

So what kind of information might be included in the class book? Remember this book will stay with Marygrove as a testimony to the education and values Marygrove gave us. The suggestions that follow may help you organize your ideas and give you a chance to share some lighthearted Marygrove moments in the process. The book is intended to be a way to share with your classmates your personality, your humor, your life, your interests, and the talents you have developed. So just talk to us! We will listen!

As Ellen Murphy Bonn wrote to her classmates last year, "Skip the old grudges; bury the old hatchets about the Church; think positive thoughts as you write. . . . Just keep it clean." Tell us about you. Did you take up oil painting when you retired? Have you always been in the community chorus or a community theatre? Have you held elected office? Did you start a fantastic program in your community? Did you get that advanced degree? Did you travel to exotic places or have you finally become a snow bird? Think of the types of accomplishments that make us, as Marygrove grads, unique. You will be able to bring your stories, pictures, and scrapbooks of the children and grandchildren to the reunion. This is about you and the road you have traveled in the last 50 years! But the bottom line, the content is up to you.

SUGGESTIONS(Use these ideas as suggestions only. Use any or all of them as you see fit. Please limit yourself to a total of 250 to 300 words. Text longer than that will be cut by the committee so everyone gets the same amount of space.)

Since 1961 . . .(Tell what you have been doing.)

The most rewarding aspect of my life since graduation has been . . .

Looking back 50 years, the most significant part of my Marygrove education was . . .(Specify a person, department, program, or an event made a difference in your life.)

My favorite "Marygrove Minute" occurred when . . .(Share a short snippet of something that happened during our undergraduate days.)

THE BIG PICTURE

And don't forget a current picture in .jpg format. I am not an expert on this but I will try to explain what I know and hope it is fairly accurate. Some cameras take pictures in "high resolution" which provides enough detail to put your picture on a bill board. But we are not doing bill boards. On the other hand, if the image you send me requires me to crop your head from a group shot, there probably will be too little detail and your image will be grainy or blurry. So there is a happy medium and if you can, try to send a picture that is only a head and is about 200 KB in size. It would be nice if all our pictures are about the same physical size on the page and the same quality. But I will work with what you send me. I wish I could say I will "Photoshop" out the wrinkles but that is far beyond my pay grade (and expertise). So help me out as much as you can and I will do the best I can.

Please send the information for your page in our memory book to me (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) and I will parcel the text out to a member of our exclusive "Editorial Board" for review. I will prepare your page with your picture, and your information block. When the text is returned to me, I will insert it into your page and you will be in the history books! Saved for all time! If you have not already done so, please send me written permission to distribute your contact information. Email counts. If your street address changes permanently over the summer, please do let me know. I will change it if it not too late.

Books will be available at cost to class members at the reunion. Those who attend the reunion will receive the book at that time; those who cannot attend will be able to order a copy at a slightly higher cost. The cost will depend on the number of submissions but last year the books were $15 for books at the reunion and $20 for books that were mailed.

So put on your thinking cap and get started!

The deadline is critical. Please mark your calendar! The deadline is June 30th.

Talented classmates, show us your wares! We can only guess what wonders you have created in the last 50 years. So bring some along. We think Saturday afternoon will provide the perfect opportunity to share and enjoy the creativity of our classmates. What creation(s) would you be willing to display at our reunion? What a unique way to discover and celebrate each other's gifts.

Any and all talents are welcome -

creative writing

fiction

nonfiction

poetry

music

videos

CDs

web sites

oil paintings

watercolors

photography

floral arrangements

pottery

needlework

knitting

crocheting

quilting

paper folding

scrap-booking

stained glass

If it has a name, one of us has probably done it! Barb Tucker Hills is ready to help you showcase your work. Please contact Barb directly to discuss how to display your favorite creations. She is ready and excited to hear from you.